No time left
by oldmule
Summary: Harry and Ruth, with time running out to say the thing unsaid.  S9  Please review first effort!
1. Chapter 1

He didn't know if he had the energy to open his eyes, his body ached from the beating and there was so little reason to haul himself back into the hopelessness of reality.

If he had thought being secured to a metal pole, 20 feet from a primed explosive, with no real hope of escape could get any worse he was very sadly and most unimaginably wrong.

"No. No, no, no, no…NO! The last a shout of anger, frustration and the most intense despair. His eyes were open, resting on the thing he least wanted to see right now. Ruth half smiled at him, at any other moment he would have felt overjoyed to see that look on her face, the warmth in her eyes, but not here, not now. They were side by side, each of their hands individually cuffed to a scaff bar behind them, unable to touch, facing the bomb.

"It's okay, Harry", she said quietly. It was so not okay.

Vaughan was standing there before them. Harry had been totally unaware of his entrance.

"Well, this is a bonus. Actually, I would have preferred it if more of your team could have been here to share the moment with you, Harry, but sadly Ruth was the only one who came looking for you. The others seemed unwilling to leave the Grid, so unwilling that I thought it only right that they should stay there."

On the grid Beth looked to Dimitri, anger and frustration burning in both their eyes. They had no contact with the outside, they were helpless, their only window on the world the feed that Vaughan was providing them.

Vaughan continued with a smile "They're in lock down. No hope of getting out. A night in for them, with nothing to do but watch the telly, well, the one channel that's available to them." He glanced up at the CCTV camera in the corner. The only thing other than the bomb and an old table and chairs that were visible in the old warehouse. "And as for John, sorry, Lucas, well he'll be somewhere planning his new life. You'll be far from his mind"

"Why do this?" Asked Ruth.

""Why not"

"That's no answer. What do you have to gain?" She needed to know.

"From this? Your deaths? Nothing. That's what makes it so liberating. Anyway, as pleasant as this is…" he looks back to the digital clock fast decreasing to the single minute mark. "Must go".

He walks away from them, into the shadows. Suddenly the 'why' doesn't seem to matter anymore.

Ruth stretches out the little finger of her left hand as far as she can, she can just touch Harry's right hand. A small touch but it ran through him like static and he turns to her, roused from his despair, yet again she is in this position because of him.

"Harry. I was wrong. " She speaks softly and gently. "I should have said yes….when you asked me. I should have said yes."

He looks at her, his heart filled with her and with regret that it should come to this for them both to be able to face their feelings. His right hand strains against the cuffs and he reaches his little finger to hers so that the two are interlocked. It is all the touch they are permitted.

"Ruth, will you marry me?'

"Yes. I Will…..I do."

"I do" He knows what they are saying, as does she. This is enough for them.

"She smiles, shyly but with spirit and with so much love and adds "For richer or poorer"

"In sickness and in health" He replies.

Ruth pauses, well aware of what she was about to say.

"Till death do us part"

On the Grid Beth stands, tears freely falling down her face. Dimitri and Tariq feel like intruders watching the most intimate of moments.

In the warehouse the two stand stock still, the clock does not. 25…24….23.

A tear rolls down Ruth's face.

Harry had smiled with all the love and more she has ever seen on his face but now his eyes have glazed and his jaw tightened.

He looks away and then there comes from him a cry, a shout, a feral scream that comes as if from all the trapped, tortured souls in the world. He wrenches his left arm through the air with every once of strength he has. Ruth can not help but hear, beneath his roar the sickening sound of bones breaking. He has wrenched his left hand from the cuff and it hangs bleeding and shattered, one of the bones protruding from his palm.

He sucks in the air to stop himself from blacking out and steps forward, now free to stand in front of her, to touch her, to face her, to feel her. She understands what he has done, so much pain, just for this moment, to be able to kiss her before they died, for him to stand before her and for his body to offer her as much protection as he can.

"I love you Ruth." He leans forward gently and slowly, suddenly like they had all the time in the world

…..15..14…13…

If a kiss could encapsulate their whole range of feelings of love and regret and loss and yet the joy of finally finding each other then this was it.

She rests her forehead on his, their lips barely apart. "I love you Harry. No one ever came close, they never could."

Both of their tears fall and run together. His voice warm and resonant says quietly "Close your eyes, Ruth and listen to how much I love you" As her eyes shut the last image is of him, she is barely aware of the red display behind him

….8…7…

"I loved you from the day you first walked in and dropped your papers, from the moment you said 'bugger the home office' and when you were gone I never stopped loving you, so much so it hurt. It still hurts. Know, now, that I will love you forever."

4..3..2..

The two of them are so lost in each other they are totally unaware of Lucas running through the open doorway and within a moment grabbing the table and hurling himself at the explosives strapped to the chair in the middle of the room.

….0

The picture on the monitors of the grid goes dead. Beth tries and fails to hold in a solitary sob.

Dust and rubble settling and then all is still.


	2. Chapter 2

**It all belongs to Kudos. A short chapter 2 follow up to 'No Time Left"  
**

She opens her eyes. Pain. Bleach. Beth.

"Harry?"

Beth is too still. "He took most of the blast. Not as much as Lucas. He's dead."

Ruth stopped. All of her stopped. Her breath, her heart, her head.

"No, Ruth, Lucas is dead. Harry's alive" Beth had seen the effect of her words immediately and cursed herself at her clumsiness.

Ruth breathed a shallow breath, not risking more than that. Waiting. Waiting for the rest that was to come.

"He's critical."

Ruth could remember nothing but their whispered last words to each other and then all was blank. Now, here she was in lying in a hospital bed somewhere, away from Harry. She sat up, a little too abruptly and felt the sharp pain tear through her right leg.

"Take me to him"

"You can't, Ruth, you're.."

"Beth." No more words were necessary. Ruth would not be told no and Beth could see that, she had seen what had passed between Ruth and Harry in those last moments.

"What the hell do you think you're doing. You can't.." The nurse came in to find Ruth been arranged in a wheelchair by Beth. Outraged that her patient should be about to burst the multitude of stitches in her leg.

"I'm taking her to see her…" there was a slight pause but Beth knew what she was about to say was in every sense the truth.. "her husband". Ruth looked to Beth confused that she had witnessed what had been said. Of course, they had had a feed on the Grid from the Warehouse. They had all seen and heard her and Harry's vows to each other. They all knew. And in that moment what surprised her most was that she quite liked the fact that they knew. Why shouldn't they know how much she loved Harry, god, she would tell the world if it meant Harry was ok.

The nurse seemed unimpressed at where Beth was heading. "You can help me, or you can wait till I'm gone and then you'll have to tie her to the bed because there's no way she won't find her way to him."

The nurse looked between the two of them and knew she wasn't going to win this battle.

"Only family, I'm afraid"

"I'm his wife."

"I'm sorry, we don't seem to have that Mr Pierce is married on his records".

Beth stepped in "It only happened yesterday, and it's Sir Harry, by the way"

**Pos more to come. Don't know yet**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimed.**

**Final instalment. Hope you enjoy.**

**Chapter 3**

"How's Harry?"

Ruth had barely emerged from the pods.

"He's grumpy, Beth."

"That's a good sign, then"

Ruth smiled. She was right it was a good sign and for the first time in several weeks she felt much lighter in spirit. It had been a difficult and stressful period for all of them. Finally Harry was recovering, he'd been a long time in intensive care but possibly by next week they would release him and maybe life on the Grid would settle down to something resembling normal.

"Ruth, for you" Dimitri waved a phone towards her. "It's the hospital" he said softly.

"What's happened?" she said crossing to him.

"They won't say."

"Hello"

"Hello, Mrs Pearce?" they'd never quite got round to telling the hospital that there hadn't actually been any kind of wedding, it just seemed easier this way and they both kind of liked it.

"Yes. What's happened? Is he alright?"

The pause was far too long and Ruth's pulse paused with it.

"Please, tell me."

"I'm not quite sure what happened.. it's just…. well…I'm sorry but your husband appears to be missing"

"What?"

"We've searched and there's no sign of him. I have staff about to go through the CCTV now"

"We'll do that. Someone will be with you very soon."

Ruth put the phone down, her mind racing through the possibilities. The Grid had gone as quiet as it ever could.

"Harry's missing."

* * *

They had gone through as many credible possibilities as they could think of whilst Dimitri headed for the hospital. Tariq was trying to access CCTV feeds around it. Alec, who had stayed with them since joining the search for Lucas, and Beth were checking the records of recent arrivals of foreign agents and terrorist groups into the UK. It was hard to narrow down. Harry had made so many enemies over the years and he was still a prize asset to various undesirables who would love to know what he knew, who would do anything to know what he knew. That's what really scared Ruth.

She was the senior member of the department now and they were all looking to her for their lead, as it had been in the past few weeks. She had quite enjoyed the responsibility of it, but that was only because the Grid had been relatively quiet and she'd had no major decisions to make. That was Harry's domain. She missed his certainty right now as she desperately tried to suppress the rising tide of panic for his safety.

"Anything?" She asked Beth.

"No."

"Alec?"

"Nothing credible yet."

We'll find him Ruth, don't worry" Beth smiled gently. Hadn't they'd been through enough in the last few weeks.

The phone rang.

"Dimitri?" Ruth's voice pleaded for some news.

"Ruth, I'm going through the cctv but I haven't found any…." he paused

"What, what have you seen?'

"Ruth, it's Harry. Hang on"

She was about to scream down the phone at him when the pods swished open and she heard Beth's shocked gasp.

It was Harry.

He stepped out delicately, nursing his hand, he looked pale and a little weak, still not fully recovered from the many and quite brutal injuries he had sustained. He was muttering about something under his breath, something to do with doors or taxis.

"Harry" cried Beth.

He looked up. "Why can you never get a bloody cab when it's raining?"

Beth and Alec laughed with relief. Tariq emerged and started as he saw Harry walk past him and head for his office. Ruth had said nothing. If she had been rational enough she would have analysed that in this single moment she was more angry than she had ever been in her entire life.

They all stood and watched him carefully lower himself down into his seat and reach for the nearest pile of papers that were collected on his desk.

Ruth was roused momentarily by someone calling her name, she realised it was Dimitri still on the end of the phone. She registered it and simply handed the phone to Beth and headed to Harry's office. Beth put the phone to her ear. "Dimitri. Harry's here" she paused as she watched Ruth approach his door "he's fine, though he might not be for long."

Ruth slid the door shut behind her. He hadn't looked up, just mumbled "does nobody in this damned building knock". By the time he did look up he realised, somewhat belatedly, that he was in for both barrels.

Alec and Beth cringed. This wasn't going to be pretty. Tariq looked at them "The George?" They beat a hasty retreat.

* * *

"Ruth have you finished shouting at me?"

It was the first time she'd paused for several minutes.

"Because if you have, I wondered if you'd like to go to dinner tonight"

"If you think you are in any fit state to go gallivanting about to fancy restaurants, when you should still be in a hospital bed, then you've got another thing coming!"

"But Ruth, I'm a recently married man and I still haven't had a chance to take my wife out."

She stopped mid breath, the next rant temporarily paused. Harry ceased the initiative and as he spoke stood up, which was easier said than done. "She has a bit of a temper, you see" his eyes twinkled hoping he knew her well enough to not get further battered "you'd like her I think, you're quite alike. The thing is that I really do love her and I thought she might appreciate it." He was moving slowly towards her, it was almost like watching someone taming a wild animal, except she was no longer feeling very wild, in fact as hard as she tried to remain angry with him, the more she found that small smirk of his the most desirable thing in the world.

"I haven't really been there for her lately, but I want to be now" he was speaking so softly as he leant in to her, his mouth only a hair's breath from her ear, "in fact, we've not had a moment to ourselves since we took our vows." His voice whispered into her ear and poured down her spine, "I mean, how long's a man got to wait for his wedding night?" She felt his fingers slide to her face as he turned her to him, face to face, he was smiling. She had no chance.

She tried to keep her face straight, she failed.

"You're well enough for that then?"

"Mmmm" he purred, bringing his mouth to hers.

She paused from the midst of the sensual kiss, which took no small amount of effort, "and what did the doctor say?"

"Bugger the doctor" he mumbled and enveloped her in a kiss that would have taken her breath away, if it hadn't gone already.

* * *

They sat in the George. Ploughman's and pints. Dimitri had got the message to avoid the Grid at all costs and meet them here.

No one spoke. Until.

"Maybe we shouldn't have left them," said Tariq somberly.

"It always seemed to me that Ruth was quite mild mannered, not that I know her that well…clearly" added Alec.

"I don't fancy Harry's chances" said Dimitri.

They fell silent again

There was a shout from the bar, as the barman leant over

"Call for you"

They looked at each other.

"Go on Tariq" said Beth.

He just looked at her.

"You're the nearest".

He got up muttering how it was always him and was passed the handset.

"Hello?"

"Is no one going to do any work today?"

"On our way, Harry"


End file.
